India's Open-Economy Policy: Globalism, Rivalry, Continuity (review)

[ 178 ] asia policy India’s Open-Economy Policy: Globalism, Rivalry, Continuity Jalal Alamgir New York: Routledge, 2008 • 192 pp. This book explains why India’s open-economy policy, initiated in 1991, has continued unabated despite widespread domestic political risks, and draws implications for countries seeking to politically market grand or controversial ideas. main argument India’s ability to make economic openness a core commitment is a result of two key ideas that have enabled consensus. The first, which evolved out of India’s anti-colonial movement, is a desire to play a strong role in world affairs. The second concerns India’s perception of international rivalry, in which the image of China in particular has evolved from solidarity to enmity to envy. By the 1990s the influence of globalism and rivalry cumulated into a sense of urgency for economic empowerment, allowing policymakers to privilege international needs over domestic political demands and to unify political divisions under strongly nationalist rhetoric, ensuring that India’s economic openness could not be curtailed even though specific policies faced opposition. policy implications To reduce domestic political risks associated with controversial economic policies, policymakers can: • Analyze emerging discourses in the polity to devise political marketing strategies that address the causes and consequences of these discourses. • Show policy consistency with the least disputed or most widely understood historic continuities (e.g., in India’s case, an ongoing project of national empowerment). • Refocus domestic political opposition to issues of international position, status, or competition. • Shift the political discourse of the opposition from international constraints (such as IMF conditionalities) to international opportunities (such as playing a greater role in world affairs). • Avoidunbridledmaterialism(e.g.,theBJP’s2000–04“FeelGood”and“India Shining” campaigns) that may be out of sync with the political‑economic perceptions of the majority. ...